Shadows and Spiders
by Ranwolf
Summary: Batgirl had always relied on her skills as a fighter to get her through the night. But she soon learns from a former villain, that getting help isn't always a sign of weakness.


Shadows and Spiders  
Chapter I: Unexpected Help  
by Ranwolf

Batgirl crouched low near the edge of the tenement building rooftop  
in one of the quieter parts of Gotham, which was in and of itself a  
paradox. It was only quieter because there was a police station only  
a few blocks away. Unfortunately, that didn't stop criminals from  
doing their thing.

She was on the trail of a mugger that had beaten an old man severely  
enough to put him in a hospital for a week. She had taken a personal  
interest in the assault when she discovered she knew the victim. He  
ran a small video rental store that she visited on the one day a week  
she put aside for herself. Batman's orders, otherwise she would be  
out every night. Oracle suggested a list of things she could do as a  
hobby. Starting a movie library was the only one that seemed to catch  
her interest. Particularly, the old Hammer films.

When Cassandra found out Mr. Fokker was mugged she took it as a  
personal affront. was a good man. She learned to rely on  
his recommendation for her small, but growing, collection of D.V.D.s  
and videotapes. Always with a kind word, he constantly tried to  
arrange a meeting between her and his grandson, Roy.

"Batgirl," Oracle's voice interrupted Batgirl's thoughts.  
"How goes the hunt?"

"I have a lead," she replied. She had to "visit"  
five informants before she finally got the information she wanted,  
but the results are what mattered.

"Do you want me to send Robin or Spoiler as back up?,"  
Oracle asked. "They're less than five minutes away from your  
position."

"No," Batgirl replied. "I can handle this."

"Never implied otherwise. But you never know."

She aimed her grappling hook in the direction she wanted to go, and  
fired her line. "If you want. I'll be done by the time they  
arrive." She launched herself off the roof, swinging towards her  
destination.

Minutes later, Batgirl was crawling along the roof supports to an  
abandoned warehouse. She could imagine her sometimes partner,  
Spoiler, asking: "Why's it always abandoned warehouses? Don't  
companies store things anymore?" She would probably find  
Spoilers comments amusing, if not accurate.

Below, a dozen men were either sitting around a table playing cards,  
or sitting in front of a television watching porn. She spotted one  
pacing back and forth nervously. "Reading" him, she knew he  
was the one she was searching for. He probably heard she was  
searching for him.

"Ricky," one of the men at the table called to the mugger.  
"Stop fucking pacing. You're annoyin' the fuck outta me."

"Fuck off, man," Ricky replied. "You ain't got the  
Bat's cunt after you."

Batgirl's eyes narrowed. She decided to hurt him a little extra just  
for that.

"Probably the only pussy he has coming to him all year,"  
said another card player, causing the others to laugh.

"Dude, there's how many of us here?" the first to speak  
asked. "We got your back."

"Tell that to Blind Ving," said Ricky. "I heard she  
took out his whole crew by herself."

"Yeah, well I heard Batman was there too," said one of the  
porn watchers without taking his eyes off the screen.

"He was. But all he did was watch."

Before there was a reply, Batgirl decided she had heard enough of the  
conversation. She flung three smoke capsules among the gang. When  
there was sufficient smoke, she dropped down among them, landing on  
the first speaker as the others ran about in a panic, trying to get  
to weapons. The one she landed on was already out of commission.

She heard the familiar sound of automatic weapons being made ready  
behind her. She turned, flinging three bat-arangs at the gang  
members, knocking two out and breaking the nose of the third.

The smoke began to clear sooner than she had anticipated, one of them  
must have had the presence of mind to vent out the smoke. It didn't  
really matter they knew she was there.

Batgirl waded through the gang members easily, knowing exactly how  
they were going to attack her just by glancing at them. Only one of  
them seemed to have any form of martial arts training. She allowed  
him to attack her for ten seconds before she dropped him with a nerve  
strike.

"Fucking bitch!" a porn watcher cried out as he opened fire  
with a pair of Mac-11s. She dodged to the right, running away from a  
destructive wave of lead. Unfortunately, one of the several dozen  
rounds found their mark, slicing through her thigh and into the chest  
of a card player that didn't have sense enough to duck in time.  
Batgirl dropped to the ground, fire shot up her leg, though she had  
been shot before the pain seemed unbearable. She didn't feel this  
much pain since she fought Shiva. She fought down the nausea that  
threatened.

"I got her! I got the Bat-bitch!" A whoop of triumph from  
someone else. The one that shot her reloaded his weapons as fast as  
he could. Batgirl tried to get up but collapsed again, her leg was  
unable to support her weight. She could feel herself going into shock  
from the blood loss.

Not like this, she thought, almost desperate. She could see they  
planned to kill her. Some of them also thought of doing things to her  
before hand. With their remaining numbers and her weakening  
condition, she knew she couldn't fight her way out, especially if the  
one with the Mac-11s decided to open up on her. She couldn't just sit  
back and let them do what they wanted. She had seen rape victims, the  
traumatized look in the faces, the humiliation they felt open to her  
as a book would be to anyone else. She would rather kill herself.

Before blood loss made her too weak, she removed a knife from her  
utility belt, intending on using it on herself.

"The fuck she do-" The gang member was interrupted when he  
was thrown clear across the room onto the card table, money and cards  
scattered everywhere.

The one with the Mac-11s turned and fired into the shadows. She heard  
a odd hiss, then a blob of some kind engulfed the guns. The gunman  
foolishly pulled the trigger and the Macs exploded taking most of his  
hands with them. He dropped to his knees, clutching the charred  
stumps to his chest, screaming like a child.

Batgirl heard several more of the odd hiss coming from the shadows.  
Dark glistening lines shot out, somehow wrapping themselves around  
the remaining gang members. She noted, with some satisfaction, the  
one she was tracking was wrapped up from head to toe in... whatever  
it was.

"Batman?," she asked seeing a tall dark clad figure step  
out of the shadows cautiously. She fought back the darkness, not  
wanting to pass out in front of her mentor. When her vision cleared  
momentarily she realized the approaching form was not Batman. The  
height and build were off, the costume way off. Completely black,  
save for overly large white eyes and white squares on the back of  
each hand.

She realized after a moment, she couldn't "read" the  
person. It was almost as if he "shimmered". Though the pain  
in her leg was excruciating, she forced herself onto her feet and  
prepared to fight, thinking she had a better chance against one  
person. Even if he was a meta-human of some kind. She held the knife  
loosely in her hand, ready to use it if necessary. She could feel her  
leg was ready to buckle at any moment.

The black clad man stopped several feet away. he raised a hand and  
the same glistening rope shot out from the back of his hand wrapping  
around the blade. The surprise she felt seeing that allowed the dark  
figure to rip the knife from her hand, at the same time knocking her  
off balance. All her weight went to her back leg and she fell.

"Lay still," said the dark figure, closing in on her  
quickly. Three more hisses and her arms and good leg were pinned to  
the ground by the blobs. On closer inspection, she realized the blob  
was some kind of webbing.

With ease, he ripped the material of her tights, exposing her wound.  
She let out an involuntary hiss of pain when he pressed his hand over  
the wound, trying to stop her from losing more blood. "Sorry,"  
he murmured apologetically. "You got a bandage in that belt of  
yours?"

Batgirl looked at the man, still unable to read his intentions, not  
sure if she should trust him. Then again he was trying to keep her  
from bleeding out.

"Third pouch, left side."

With his free hand, he opened the proper pouch and removed a  
tourniquet. She gasped in surprise seeing tendrils of some kind  
formed from his wrist and rip open the wrapping. "What...?"

"Long story." He wrapped the tourniquet around her leg.

Batgirl felt weak, the adrenaline began to fade from her body. Light  
headed, she fought to stay awake. She had questions for this person.  
Who or What was he? Where did he come from? Did he follow her here?  
Why? Why couldn't she read him?

The last question played in her mind several more times before she  
slipped into oblivion.

Slowly her eyes opened, white florescent lights hung overhead,  
causing her to squeeze her eyes shut once again. She groaned softly.  
Cassandra knew where she was , recognizing the ceiling tiles and  
light fixtures.

She heard a near silent hum approach her. "How do you feel?,"  
Barbara asked.

"Fine." Cassandra opened her eyes and looked at the older  
red-haired woman. "How long?"

A couple hours. Tim and Steph brought you back," Barbara  
replied. A concerned expression formed on Oracle's face. "What  
happened? When they found your they said you were tied to the floor  
and shot."

Cassandra didn't answer right away. She replayed what she remembered  
in her mind before telling Barbara what she knew.

"It doesn't sound like anyone I've heard of." Oracle  
activated a laptop that was connected to her mainframe by wireless  
modem. She didn't seem too surprised to get a negative response after  
typing in Cassandra's description of the man who helped her.

"Nothing. He's a new player, whoever he is."

"There's... something else." Cassandra paused for a moment.  
Not sure whether to say or not. "I couldn't read him." She  
felt almost embarrassed to admit it.

Barbara looked pensive. She's worried, Cassandra thought, relieved  
she didn't somehow lose her ability again. She sighed to herself,  
pulling her bed covers away. "Where are you going?,"  
Barbara asked, moving to the side of her bed.

"Patrol," Cassandra replied, "I should try to find  
him."

"Not in your condition you're not." Barbara was firm,  
unyielding in her expression. "You're going to stay and rest for  
at least a week. Do you know how close you came to losing your leg?"

"I have to-," Cassandra began.

"Rest?," Barbara interrupted. "I totally agree."

"But..." Barbara somehow managed to cut her off again  
without saying anything, but with a simple arch of a eyebrow.  
Cassandra knew she had lost the debate before it even really began.  
She knew Barbara would tie her down if need be. How the wheelchair  
bound woman would accomplish that, she wasn't sure, but it would  
happen.

With a reluctant sigh Cassandra relented. She settled herself back  
into the bed, noting the approval that came from Barbara.

"Where is Robin and Spoiler?," the dark haired girl asked.

"Checking out the warehouse." Barbara turned her chair  
around to exit the spartan bedroom. "I'll let you know if they  
find anything. Get some sleep." The older woman shut off the  
light and exited the room.

A week had passed since Cassandra had been shot. She wanted to go out  
on patrol but Barbara had vetoed that plan. Spoiler had all too  
cheerfully volunteered to take up her slack. She resigned herself to  
training in the holo -room. Even then, Barbara had implemented  
restrictions in the training system to reduce the risk of Cassandra  
aggravating her injuries.

She had been in the holo-room for some hours, sparing with three  
holographic opponents (It was the most Barbara allowed at the time.)  
There was no challenge. Even with a hole in her leg, Cassandra easily  
defeated her opponents in seconds. It got to the point she didn't  
have to focus and allowed her mind to wander.

Her thoughts had replayed the events leading to her injuries a dozen  
times over. Different decisions leading to alternate scenarios. A  
third of which seemed to lead to her getting killed or being rescued  
by the man in the flowing bodysuit.

She had never seen anything like it . When asked, neither Barbara nor  
Batman seemed to know what it was but they had plenty of theories. If  
it wasn't for the webbing found in the warehouse she might have well  
imagined everything.

Cassandra ended her training session and took a shower.

By the time she was done, Cassandra decided to search for her  
mysterious savior when she went out on patrol next. That would be in  
a few days whether Barbara liked it or not.

She limped into the computer room, intending to use one of the  
smaller workstations to practice her reading lessons when she saw  
Spoiler, Robin and Oracle. The Boy Wonder and Oracle were on either  
side of the blond girl, talking to Stephanie in calming tones.  
Spoiler's hands were shaking. Stephanie was the closest Cassandra had  
to a friend. Concern erupted in her chest.

"What happened?"

"We met your boyfriend." Robin said, not looking at her.

"What?," she said, surprised.

Stephanie looked up at her. Spoilers eyes were wide. "You didn't  
tell us he had teeth!"

Cassandra was confused. "Teeth? I don't... I don't understand."

Oracle was equally confused. "Why don't you start from the  
beginning."

"We were patrolling over Fifth and Morrison," Tim began  
after Spoiler had calmed sufficiently. "When we spotted him."

"We thought it was Batman or Nightwing at first," Spoiler  
added.

Tim nodded. "But then we realized it wasn't. For one thing he  
was swinging nonstop. He didn't stop on any roofs to reorient or  
anything, he'd just turn midair. Batman can't even change momentum  
that fast." Tim paused to let that sink in. "So we followed  
him."

"We were barely keeping pace when we lost him near the park."

"I still can't figure how we lost him," Spoiler said. "We  
were right behind him and all of a sudden, poof, gone." She  
looked at Cassandra . "If I didn't know better, I'd say you  
taught him how to do that."

"What happened next?," Cassandra asked. "That's not  
what has you shaking."

Stephanie shook her head. "No, it's not. When Tim and I couldn't  
figure out where he went, we decided to come back and tell you guys  
when... when my line broke. I think it got caught on a flagpole or  
something and it snapped. I started to fall. I remembered what Batman  
told me about keeping a extra grappling line, but I couldn't find  
it..."

Tim added. "I was too far away when I realized Steph was  
falling."

"I thought I was street pizza when he caught me. The guy we  
were following caught me."

"He swung out of nowhere. When he had Steph, he swung over to  
the Knox building over on Collins Avenue."

Steph continued the stories from there. "He landed on the roof  
and put me down. When I looked up to thank him all I saw were teeth.  
Big white steak knives. I mean imagine the Joker if he was a  
vampire."

"We get the picture," Barbara shuddered slightly at the  
imagery. "Did he say anything?"

"He asked if I was alright." Spoiler answered with a sigh.  
"I really freaked after that."

"Why?," Cassandra asked.

"Because the mouth moved. I thought it was a mask of some kind."

"I got there right after that," Robin said. "He looked  
like he was trying to calm her down. That was the only reason I  
didn't brain him with my staff. He saw me and backed off. When he  
did, he said something odd." Cassandra and Barbara looked at him  
expectantly. "He said: 'Told you the teeth were a bad idea.'"

"There was someone else?," Barbara asked.

"I don't think so. I think he was talking to himself."

"He could be nuts," Spoiler suggested. "You know,  
schitzo."

"Possible," Barbara replied. "But I don't think so.  
There aren't many cases of schizophrenics helping people, much less  
saving lives."

"We totally agree," an unknown male voice said. Everyone  
was taken by surprise and almost instinctively prepares themselves  
for a fight. "Jeez, you people are jumpy. We suggest decaf."

"Whose there?. Show yourself," Robin ordered, his staff out  
and ready.

Out of a dark corner near the ceiling the shadows seemed to solidify  
into a man-shaped figure as it crawled head first halfway down the  
wall. Barbara studied the man with a critical eye, knowing the others  
were doing the same. Absorbing every possible detail.

As best she could tell, he was taller than Robin, perhaps  
five-eleven, and more heavily muscled, but not overly buff, as if he  
began exercising regularly only recently, maybe a few month. He  
didn't have the sharp rows of teeth Spoiler described. He did,  
however, have a white stylized spider emblazoned across his chest and  
back.

"Who are you?" Cassandra asked suddenly. "How did you  
find us?"

"We followed the Boy Wonder and the blonde," he answered,  
pointing to Robin and Spoiler.

"You followed us?," Robin almost shouted, indignant.

The large white eyes focused on Robin. "Hey, you two were  
following me, remember? So don't act like We invaded your privacy,  
okay?" He snorted. "People nowadays."

"Who are you?," Cassandra asked again, positioning herself  
between the man and Barbara.

The dark figure turned to her. He was silent for a moment, as if he  
was studying her. She still couldn't read him, the shimmering effect  
she received from him was still there.

"Venom," he said. "Been thinking of changing it. Too much like that super-steroid." He crawled the rest of the way down. He showed his flexibility by slipping his legs  
between his arms and onto the floor. He kept near the wall, as if he half expected them to attack him.

"How's your leg?," Venom asked Cassandra after a few  
moments of silence. "Surprised you're walking at all."

Cassandra blinked. Surprised to hear concern in the question from a  
virtual stranger. "It... it wasn't that bad." A moment  
passed. "Thank you?" She wasn't sure how to properly  
respond.

Venom's head bobbed. "Welcome."

"Mind telling us what you're doing here?," Barbara asked.

"Would you believe we just want to help?"

There was an awkward silence among the Bat-family. Robin was the  
first to speak. "Help who? Us?"

Venom nodded. "I know my experience is practically non-existent.  
Mostly dealing with break-ins and... well, uh... Batgirl's situation  
last week."

Barbara couldn't help but smile a little. Venom had saved Cassandra's  
life and Spoiler's only a short time ago. But here he was acting like  
he was at a job interview. Quite funny. He must be young, barely out  
of his teens, she thought. She asked, "And who's 'we' by the way?"  
Barbara was surprised no one else picked up on that.

Suddenly, Venom did the most unexpected of things. The teeth Spoiler  
spoke of formed and the large maw opened. A long tongue, dripping  
with greenish saliva, formed. Everyone tensed, preparing for an  
attack that never came. The mouth widened, the sickening sound of the  
flesh ripping permeated the room as the lower jaw receded into his  
throat and the upper jaw rose up, exposing an all too human face  
underneath. The rest of the mask seemed to liquefy and flowed into  
the rest of the costume behind his neck. Venom was, as Barbara had  
guessed a young man of no more than twenty. Longish blond hair framed  
a rugged looking face, with a square jaw and dark blue eyes. He had a  
look of shock on his face.

"What the? What are you doing!," he yelped, looking at his  
hands as if they had betrayed him.

Not his hands. His costume. Something seemed to click in the  
red-head's mind. "Your costumes alive, isn't it?"

Venom looked at her. Barbara could see panic in his eyes. His mouth  
moved, but no sound came. He was at a loss for words. "I.. I..."

His eyes momentarily became unfocused, the way Barbara has seen when  
someone was being spoken to telepathically. His eyes refocused and  
they looked calmer, albeit nervous.

"I...," Venom paused, "My name's Eddie Brock. I want  
to help."

End Chapter


End file.
